Russian forces killed a civilian in Bakhmut over the past day, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Dec. 30.
According to Kyrylenko, 1,282 people have been killed, and 2,799 have been injured in Donetsk Oblast since Feb. 24.
On Dec. 26, Kyrylenko said that over 60% of Bakhmut’s infrastructure has been partially or fully destroyed.
Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhii Cherevaty said that the areas surrounding Bakhmut and Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast are currently the site of the most intense hostilities at this phase of the war.
Bakhmut, a salt-mine city with a pre-war population of around 70,000, is one of Russia's main targets, as seizing it could allow Russian forces to launch attacks on urban areas such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast.
The Wagner Group, which has been conducting a large portion of Russian operations around Bakhmut, uses many poorly-trained convicts it recruited to fight against Ukraine in an attempt to take the city, the U.K. Defense Ministry previously reported.
